The EU - no threat to our identity

The visit by Czech President Václav Havel should have served to allay the fears of those who for reasons known to themselves keep harping on Malta`s loss of identity if we were to become members of the European Union.

The Czech President affirmed the identity of his country which he hopes to take into the EU and spoke of how he came face to face with other countries` unique identities in his frequent visits abroad even though some of these countries have been members of the EU for many years.

A country`s identity is defined by so many different factors - history, geography, language, religion, political institutions, traditions - they all play a part.

None of these is necessarily threatened by membership of the EU. Globalisation and the spread of information technology are the real threats. Let us take the UK as an example. The monarchy has given the UK a unique identity.

Some left-leaning media gurus doubted the truth of this and foolishly predicted that public response to the death of the Queen Mother will serve to affirm their belief that the traditional loyalty to the monarchy among the British people is waning. Facts proved them wrong and they ended up with egg on their faces. The UK has been in the EU now for nearly 30 years and the monarchy still retains a special place in the hearts of the British people.

Many may want to see a modified modus operandi but the British people still support the monarchy as a unique institution which suits their needs. The EU did not change anything in this respect.

In his Wednesday `Pro regina` (April 10), Alfred Sant himself stated as much when he said: "The sense of national identity provided in the UK by the head of state remained powerful. Arguably, it is felt less palpably, less viscerally, than when I was a kid, but it still is there." This is one of the facts which British letter writers to The Times and to other newspapers so often ignore when they warn the people here about losing their identity if they join the EU.

The latest salvo came from CNi`s most recent guest, Roger Helmer, MEP. In a letter (March 20), he put aside the ethics of not offending his host country by describing the view held by thousands of Maltese that Malta`s membership of the EU is the best option for our islands as "extraordinarily demeaning - even insulting - to the Maltese people."

In itself, for a foreigner, a guest in our country, to use such language is demeaning and insulting to all Maltese people, irrespective of the views they hold about the future of their country.

Another aspect of Václav Havel`s visit is his yearning to see his country part of "this unique political and economic self-expression of post-war democratic Europe".

Here we have a man who personally sacrificed his life to see his country free of foreign domination, but sees no problem in using this new gained freedom in the service of his people and that of a new world order by urging EU membership.

So when Mr Helmer wrote about my views that "it appears never to cross his mind that the Maltese people, having struggled for independence and won it, might want to hang on to it", he was adopting a patronising attitude which is not welcome and which smacks of colonialism. We who believe in our country`s future destiny in the EU do not need lessons about Malta`s independence from Mr Helmer and the likes of him.

The Maltese people find themselves in the company of 15 countries which are already in the EU and a large number of countries which can`t wait to get into the EU. And for the Maltese people to have a colossus like Havel on their side is comforting and reassuring enough. In any case it is for the Maltese people to decide as they have indeed decided to pursue membership of the EU by giving the present government several mandates to do so.

In matters that really matter, countries in the EU have retained their independence as has been proved by the UK time and time again by keeping its special relationship with the US and by retaining its nuclear capability. So did France - it has kept its special relationship with Arab states and is determined to keep its nuclear capabilities in the same way that Ireland is determined to keep its neutrality.

Malta too will retain its characteristics and identity, political and otherwise. It is the will of the people that matters.

If our traditional values are being challenged and even eroded, we have to look deep into our hearts to find the reasons why. Our identity as a people and our independence as a nation can only be enhanced when we are in a position to hold our heads high in the family of nations who share our basic cultural traditions, not as spectators in splendid isolation worrying about the uncertain future of our future generations, but as members with all the rights and responsibilities that EU membership entails.